Stemming machine



Feb. 2, 1943. P PE'TERSON- I 2,309,73s

STEMMING MACHINE Filed Oct. 3, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l v INVENTOR I PONTUS\PETERSON FebQ-Z, 1943. 'P. PETERSVONQ 2,309,738

STEMMING MACHINE v Filed Oct. 5, 1940 2 sheets -sgeet 2 ATTORNEY N. O 5 mm TT 2 v NS U T N 0 P Patented Feb. 2, 1943 S'IEMIWING M'ACHINE Pontus Peterson, Garden City, N. Y., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jerse Application October 3, 1940, Serial No. 359,469

Claims.

. This invention relates to stemming machines,

more particularly to stemming machines of the general type shown in the patent to R. E. Rundell, 1,968,098, July 31, 1934. Machines of this type are equipped with an endless traveling series of opposed grippers carrying jaws which grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves advanced therebetween by conveyors and advance the gripped leaves through the range of action of a stripper mechanism which removes the tobacco from the gripped stems. An object of the invention is to avoid drop leaves, and to this end there are provided members yieldingly engaging individual gripper jaws and thereby compensating for the presence of a plurality of stem butts or an excessively large stem butt between any set of gripper jaw.

The gripper jaws may be pressed together by rollers which are supported on spring-pressed members disposed at an angle to the entering grippers, wherefore the requisite displacement of the rollers to admit jaws gripping stem .butts of various thicknesses will be facilitated.

With these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and combinations hereinafter described and then specifically set forth in claims hereinafter appended.

In the accompanying" drawings, which form a part of this specification and in which like characters of reference indicate the same or like parts:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a machine embodying the invention;

. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view taken substantially upon section line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing the members for pressing the gripper jaws together against the inserted stem butts; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3-3 of Fig; 2.

Referring to Fig. 1, the tobacco leaves are placed upon a feed belt A upon which they are pressed by an overlying belt B while the stem butts projecting from belt A are operated upon by a butt thresher C, as shown in the patent to R. E. Rundell, 1,992,773, Feb. 26, 1935. The tobacco leaves are delivered from belts A and 13 between opposed runs of belts or chains D and E which are warped and suitably driven as shown in Patent 1,992,773, to receive the stem butts in a horizontal position and turn them into an upright position while advancing them into position to be seized by the grippers I0. The latter have a construction similar to that shown in Figs. and 11 of Patent 1,968,098, and are mounted on the links l2 of an endless chain I3 having the construction shown in Fig. 12 of said patent. Each of the links I2 is provided with pins M on which the grippers are pivoted, and rollers l6 which ride on rails l8 supported by brackets 20. This construction of the rails i8 is similar to that shown in Patent 1,968,098 and serves to support the grippers while they advance the pendant leaves into the range of action of stripper mechanism H similarto that shown .in Patent 1,968,098 which removes the tobacco from the advancing leaves, the stripped stems being then drawn between scraping rolls 1. The endless chain l3 runs over an idler sprocket 2| and a drive sprocket 22, the latter being suitably driven' as shown in Patent 1,968,098.

The grippers are normally pressed together by springs 24 with sufficient pressure to retain stem butts advanced therebetween by the belts D and E and the grippers are separated to admit the stem butts by a cam (not shown) similar to that disclosed in the above mentioned patent and disposed to engage the outer sides of cam rollers 26 on the free ends of the grippers as the latter pass around the sprocket 2|, and then released to close upon the stem butts.

To the rails l8 are fastened, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the angle-irons 28 and brackets 39 havingdiagonal bores wherein are mounted plungers 31 which are urged, toward the gripper jaws by compression springs 32. Rollers 34 mounted in the inner ends of the plungers engage the exterior faces of the gripper jaws and hold them together on the stem butts with sumcient pressure to prevent slippage during the action of the stripper mechanism and scraper rolls thereon. The plungers may be disposed at an angle of approximately 30 degrees with respect to the path of the grippers, and due to this angular relationship the rollers 34 may be displaced more readily by grippers entering therebetween. Since each of the rollers engages individual gripper jaws, the rollers may yield in conformity with stem butts of varying sizes or a plurality of stem butts lodged between a single set of grippers. The movement of the rollers toward the grippers is limited by nuts 36 which are set to provide a predetermined clearance between the rollers, and the grippers may be adjusted to grip extremely thin stem butts by adjusting the nuts to diminish the clearance between the rollers and thereby prevent the greater proportion of drop leaves which would otherwise occur. It may be noted that the diagonal disposition of the plungers 3| carrying the rollers 34 prevents bending of the plungers and permits force to be imparted to the plungers which has a component disposed axially of the plungers, the latter being guided by angle-irons 28.

As the grippers approach a stationary cam (not shown) concentric with the drive sprocket 22, the rollers on the free ends thereof engage the cam and open the gripper jaws to release the stripped stems. The construction of the cam may be similar to that shown in the patent to R. E. Rundell, 2,152,668, issued April 4, 1939, to which reference may be had for a complete description thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stemming machine, the combination with sets of opposed grippers adapted to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and transfer the leaves through a stripping zone, of means extending along the stripping zone and engaging and pressing together the portions of the grippers engaging the stem butts, with suflicient pressure to prevent slippage of the stem butts therefrom during the stripping operation, said means including sets of opposed rollers engaging the exterior faces of the portions of the grippers engaging the stem butts along the stripping zone, slidably mounted members supporting said rollers and yieldable in directions extending forwardly and outwardly relative to the grippers at acute angles to the path of the grippers, and devices urging said members toward the path of the grippers to press said rollers against the exterior faces of the portions of the grippers engaging the stem butts.

2. In a stemming machine, the combination with leaf transporting mechanism including an endless chain having an upwardly inclined run, sets of opposed traveling grippers pivoted on said chain and having jaws coacting along said upwardly inclined run to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and devices for yieldingly closing said jaws to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and transport the same, of a stripping device operating to separate the laminae from the tobacco leaves while they are being transported in the range of action of said device along said upwardly inclined run by said grippers, and yielding means disposed on each side of said upwardly inclined run and extending along the major portion of the range of action of said stripping device and acting to press said jaws together along the major portion of the range of action of the stripping device with sufiicient pressure to prevent slippage of the stem butts from said jaws during the stripping operation.

3. In a stemming machine, the combination with leaf transporting mechanism including sets of opposed traveling grippers having jaws coacting to grip the stern butts of tobacco leaves and devices for closing said jaws and moving said grippers to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and transport the same, of a stripping device operating to separate the laminae from the tobacco leaves while they are being transported by said grippers, and means extending along the major portion of the range of action of said of grippers.

portion of the range of action of said stripping device to prevent slippage of the stem butts from said jaws during the stripping operation, said means including rollers disposed on either side of the path of the gripper jaws and engaging the exterior faces of the sets of opposed jaws of the grippers and pressing the same together upon stem butts inserted therebetween, the distance between the centers of adjacent rollers being less than the breadth of an individual gripper jaw so that each jaw will be engaged by a roller while passing through the extent of said means.

4. In a stemming machine having a stripping device, the combination with leaf transporting mechanism including sets of opposed traveling grippers having opposed jaws coacting to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and devices for yieldingly closing said jaws and moving said grippers to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and transport the same into the range of action,

of the stripping device and means extending along the majorportion of the range of action of the stripping device and acting to press said jaws together with sufiicient pressure along the major portion of the range of action of the stripping device to prevent slippage of the stem butts from said 'jaws during the stripping operation, said means including sets of opposed rollers disposed on either side of the path of the gripper jaws along the range of action of said stripping device, plungers supporting said rollers, springs engaging said plungers and urging said rollers into engagement with the exterior faces of the gripper jaws and thereby acting to press said jaws together and members for limiting the inward movement of said plungers and thereby maintaining said jaws within a predetermined clearance of each other sufficient to prevent slippage of the stem butts therefrom, and said members being adjustable to diminish said clearance 'to prevent slippage of thinner stem butts therefrom.

5. In a stemming machine having a stripping device, the combination with leaf transporting mechanism including sets of opposed traveling grippers having jaws coacting to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and devices for yieldingly closing said jaws and moving the grippers to grip the stem butts of tobacco leaves and transport the same into the range of action of the stripping device, of yielding means extending along the entire range of action of the stripping device and directly engaging said jaws'to press the same together with sufficient pressure during the entire operation of the stripping device to prevent slippage of the stem butts therefrom during the operation of the stripping device on the gripped leaves, said means including individually yieldable members disposed on either side of the path of the gripper jaws and engaging individual gripper jaws along the range of action of the stripping device to permit successive sets of grippers to accommodate themselves to varying sizes of stem butts or the presence of a plurality of stem butts between a set PONTUS PETERSON. 

